The attempt to bring the An-28 back into regional aviation faces not only the age of these aircraft but also the lack of a design base for their full-fledged modernization. Against the backdrop of problems with the "Baikal" project and the shortage of other ready-made aircraft, this option is being discussed as a forced measure, but flight safety expert Andrey Patrakov believes that it will not be possible to turn the An-28 into a modern regional aircraft.
Patrakov noted that the question of possible An-28 redesign essentially boils down to the lack of necessary documentation.
This is impossible. We have no design documentation left for this aircraft; the Antonov Design Bureau is now based in Ukraine.
According to his assessment, the problem is not just the age of individual machines: serious upgrades would require disassembling the aircraft and essentially rebuilding a significant part of its systems from scratch.
This situation looks particularly acute against the backdrop of the "Baikal" situation – an aircraft that was supposed to fill the niche of local airlines but never reached certification.
The development by the Ural Civil Aviation Plant has been ongoing since 2019, launch dates have been repeatedly postponed, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2025 considered options for freezing the project or transferring it to another company.
Against this background, the An-28 emerged as one of the few really existing options for regional transportation. The aircraft is designed for a maximum of 18 passengers and can carry up to 1750 kg of cargo; it was also used for patrolling, geological exploration, and search and rescue tasks.
However, according to the expert, returning these machines to service without a significant amount of work means transferring old technical problems to new operations, while there is no full-fledged replacement in the segment yet.
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